Love Rat Banksy

Banksy, Love Rat, signed screenprint edition of 150, 2004

Like fellow Graffiti Artist, Blek Le Rat, one of Banksy’s favourite characters is a rat, some 20% of his prints feature a rat. Love Rat was one of the Banksy’s rat’s first incarnations. In this screenprint, we see the rat has daubed a red heart with a paintbrush he is still holding. The Love Rat image first appeared in Liverpool, and as rats are often connoted with being dirty and disliked, this painting could either be suggesting that even the worst of the worst love someone; or, if you see the dripping red heart the rat has just painted as bleeding, then the love rat is the creator of the pain -- as Banksy jokingly advertised this print on his site: “Ideal for a cheating spouse.” This limited edition print was part of an edition of 750 and was released in 2004.